Using Linux Mint as Home Server

[dselchow]

I apologize in advance for this naive question. I am very new to Linux, very advanced with Windows and Windows Server. I installed Mint in a virtual machine to play around with it. I have a PC at home that I would like to deploy as a home server, meaning: User control, network attached storage, file and print sharing and maybe media streaming.

Is MINT a good choice for this? Is there functionality in Linux to act as a domain controller or is there a program that can be installed to perform that function?

[McLovin]

you can use mint as a file and media server, though it will be like using windows for file serving, just make sure to install samba, and configure it to allow windows to have read/write access. just do a google search on samba and you will find all kinds of doc on how to do this. on the printer side of thingsa, that's a little more difficult to say, it all depends on you printer, and if it is supported, if it has network caps built in, that would be a better option for your printing. if all you want to do is store files and access them from a networked computer, you may want to look into FreeNas http://www.freenas.org/ it's a great nas server setup, and uses almost no resources to run, all you need to be at it for is the installation, then you admin it through a we based interface. i actualy have one these in my house with 3 HDD's and i use it to store all my music, videos, and various other files. but if you are looking to able to use that computer for browsing (say if someone is on all other machines) then mint is great, just read up on things and do some research on how to configure things rather thatn just giving up at the first sign of a challenge.